Truck driver gets suspended sentence for breaching bail conditions

A 53-year-old Birzebbugia truck driver has been handed a six-month prison sentence, suspended for a year, after he admitted to disobeying a court-imposed curfew to pick up his children's clothes.

Inspector Keith Arnaud told magistrate Antonio Micallef Trigona how Joseph Grech had been arrested in Valletta outside his curfew hours. Grech currently has two pending cases, which have dragged on for five years, the inspector said, “because he never turns up to testify in those cases.”

Grech had told police that he had been going to pick up his children's clothes from his former partner's house at the time of his arrest, an explanation which the inspector felt was unlikely to be true.

The accused pleaded guilty to the charges.

Defence lawyer Roberto Montalto argued that Grech's breach of his bail conditions was not a serious one. He had left his home after receiving a phone call, explained the lawyer.

The court, however, disagreed. “I cannot tolerate disobedience to court orders,” said the magistrate.

Grech was handed a 6 month prison sentence suspended for a year and ordered to forfeit his €1,000 personal guarantee.